Time to refocus.

Refocus looks incredibly wrong.  Re-focus looks much better…but who am I to argue with the dictionary?! I am struggling to accept that my last blog post was back in August.  People have now started to comment on my quietness…so I’d better get blogging again!

We had a brilliant time in Portugal in August. Hot sunshine and lazing around make the perfect combination.  My little man did well with everything new that comes with travelling abroad and settled amazingly well.  A daily holiday ice cream was also definitely a winner!

Me and hubby managed to sneak off on a much needed “date night” which was one of my most favourite parts of the holiday.  Having time out to recognise who you are as husband and wife, rather than mummy and daddy.  That makes sense right?! We still make each other laugh, we still have lots to talk about, and we can simply just ‘be’ together…almost 5 years married…and I still love him. Pics from our date night… (a very small one of my husband as he will probably sigh, roll his eyes and not thank me for putting his picture on here!)

Another fun thing that has happened (which has even included a tiny bit of crafting) was a work camping trip.  A bit of team bonding in the ways of 2nights camping locally.  It was much fun and definitely to be a yearly event for sure.  The rain poured the first night and it was a tad chilly but we embraced the onesies to keep us warm! I was one of the pretty pandas!

What crafting was needed for camping I hear you ask?!…A team Flag! I whipped this up so quickly, but it did the trick…

 

As well as fun times we’ve also had sad times over the past few months…we had to have our pesky Timber cat put to sleep.  He was quite poorly and it was the kindest thing for him.  You can read a little about how we came about having Timmy here.  It was the saddest thing we’ve had to go through in a while and I still don’t think we’ve come to terms with the fact that he’s not around.   

To do something nice for Timmy, I have painted a marker for where he’s buried (a grave-stone just sounds too morbid…).  I was never very good at drawing/painting…but I’m pleasantly surprised with how this turned out.  I have popped it in the garden, and we’ve planted lots of bulbs around too.

I think Tim’s just catching lots of slow worms wherever he’s gone to…!

To regain the blogging/crafting mojo I have taken in lots of deliveries of gorgeous fabrics in order for me to get crafting again. Admittedly the majority are Christmas presents in nature so how much I will be able to show you on here will be debatable.  Maybe some sneek peaks, and if not some quick crafts to keep my hand in!

I hope you are all well.

See you soon.

Love from me and my little man x

First Quilt

I needed to think of a present for a friend who was due to turn half a century.  I thought it would be more special if hand crafted so I thought I would crochet her a blanket.  But more and more I was getting the vibe that she was more of a quilt than a blanket person.  Would I dare to try my first quilt?! My sister has made me 2 quilts, and has made a few for herself and friends so she has a bit more experience…She warned me of the time and cost, but encouraged me to have a go.  Could I make one?! Well let’s see…

I found picking material the worst bit! I ummed and ahhhed for ages over pictures on the internet (not quite as easy as seeing things in the flesh).  I went with one idea, then changed colours, then questioned myself.  I think I’ve had this problem before…picking for someone else is a lot harder than picking for yourself.  I went with blues in the end, and I half cheated as I went with a pack of materials with co-coordinating colour/patterns so that I could be half confident that they would match.

I went for simple squares. I did a lot of cutting out, a lot of ironing and a lot of sewing.  Here are 2 lines of the quilt top…

We all know my cutting out is not great…hence the not so exact alignment of the squares…but shhhhh…no-one needs to know that!  So on we went and soon I had a quilt top.  After waiting for the wadding to arrive, and picking the backing material I was ready to assemble the quilt.

CRUMBS!

How hard is it? Very!  I think one of the main problems was my little bluebell! She is a small machine and there was a lot of material to contend with.  I had 2 needles bend on me during this project! There was a lot of puckering, and even more unpicking.  I founds using pins more of a nightmare then holding the material.  It took me ages to get it in an acceptable state!  And then binding…oooh la la! It kept not catching some of the material…so more unpicking and re-sewing…!  I think I got the hang of the corners…but the binding I bought was of cheaper quality than I hoped for (too little time to re-order unfortunately) and wasn’t great to work with. BUT…I got there!!!!

Here are some pictures of the finished item…

The birthday girl said she loved it!

What do you think?!

I’d like to do a quilt again…to have another go…and see what happens!

Love from me and my little man x

Holidays

Me and my little man went on a trip home to Wales to spend some time with his granny and grampy.  It was lots of fun with giggling everyday.  Lunches out, time on the beach, some time for me to to get my hair cut and shop, playing in the garden, visiting the zoo….

Here are some pics…

Some time on the beach -

“Kicking the Bar”

You can read about some of the theories behind why people kick the bar at the bottom of Constitution Hill in Aberystwyth here.  I believe the men used to kick the bar to attract the attention of the ladies in the halls of residence…My little man’s getting practice in early!

Wheelbarrow Fun -

Trooping up and down the lane with his wheelbarrow every morning.  And then taking it down to the orchard to fill his barrow with corn to feed the chickens!  How delightfully simple…

Zoo -

We bought our mum a Giraffe feeding experience at Chester Zoo for her birthday which meant a family trip to the zoo! Lots of picnics in the shade meant some fat ducks being fed picnic food (including an incident of a whole cherry tomato being swallowed…I feared we may have been chucked out for killing a duck!).  I think the Chimpanzee’s and Penguins were the boys favourites.  The giraffes were amazing close up. The cousins enjoyed running after each other.

I also had my little mans parents meeting at nursery to hear that he is on track and having lots of fun and excitement! Here is one photo from his report book that I just had to upload…my cute monster.

I hope you’ve been up to fun things in the sun?!

Love from me and my little man x

Tremendous Tutu’s

Today was my first ever 5K Race For Life!

Here’s my Race for Life Story…

For a bit of team bonding in work we somehow decided that running a 5K would be a good option.  It sounds so good at the time…then the training starts and you think “hmmm…was this such a good idea?”.  Then the day gets closer and you get a bit like “Crumbs I don’t think I’ll be able to finish”. Then the day arrives and you think “I’m going to be useless”.  Then you’re at the warm up with friends thinking “Yes I can do this!”…and then you’re at the starting line and it’s too late to back out!

I did the couch to 5K plan to start my running off last year.  I though it would be a cheap, easy way to take up exercise to try and shift some of my baby weight.  I am no natural runner.  I huff, puff, have wibbly wobbly bits and I get quite a lot hot and sweaty (I always say to myself that everyone looks un-glam on the road to achieving glam!). It was hard but I achieved my 5K then, but then stopped when I returned to work.  This was a good opportunity to get back into running again.  

I was surprised how easily it is to lose condition when you stop, although I didn’t take too long to get back into the swing of things.  I aimed for 3x a week run…some longer runs, some shorter.  I think I’ve enjoyed it more this time. Maybe that’s due to having something to aim for.

We all met up at the start before splitting up to take to our sections.  I think we all look really glam! Here we are…

Outfit Time

Somehow in the planning, our team decided that we would all wear Pink Tutu’s to ensure our presence on the race course! Handmade Tutu’s of course. 

I went for 1metre each of 3x different coloured pink netting with some wide black elastic.  It cost under £4 to make so bargainous.  I toyed with doing a sewn version, but I went for tying the netting onto the elastic with a slip knot to ensure I had enough “Frufffff”!

The netting was troublesome to cut as it kept slipping all over the place…so each strand adopted it’s own personality! It took an evening to make so quick and fool proof.  Surprisingly it gobbled up fabric and  there was potential space for more, but I settled for what I had.

Here is the finished Tutu…

…(this is a post race photo so I am pleased to say it, and I, survived!)

I pinned my banner to my top…

Supporters

My husband and my little man came along to join in the fun and cheer me on.  My niece made us some “Cheering” banners…

There was brilliant support around the course which definitely spurred you on.

My Run

So on one of the hottest days of the year (so far) I managed to run (or should I say melt) all the way around (except maybe 2mins of walking to rehydrate in the full blast of the sun).  The beginning was super annoying as there were lots of walkers I needed to weave in and out of, but then the spaces slowly opened up.  I was super proud to finish.  I’m not sure what time I did it in…I think somewhere between 35-45 minutes…I was just glad to have survived!

Here is me post race (minus the tutu which came off straight away!) brandishing my well deserved medal! I think my t-shirt is reflecting onto my face…ahem…sweaty!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post run picnic in the park was well deserved, so an obligatory family pic to finish off…I love my men!

What a wonderful day…I’m definitely going to do it again!

Lots of sweaty hugs,

From me and my little man x

Airing dirty laundry…

You shouldn’t air your dirty laundry in public…unless you have a pretty peg bag to go with it!

At last I can reveal a pretty little birthday present I have been working on!  I like home made presents as I feel someone’s put the time and effort and thought into making something unique for you.

I have had a few handmade presents over the years, including fabulous quilts and blankets made by my sister, personalised animations and pictures from my brother, a decorated hot water bottle cover from my sister-in-law, to name but a few.  I think these presents are the best…and I know no-one has another one like mine!

With my new found skills time for me to get gifting.  So I made bunting and a kindle cover for my fabulous friend Lara’s birthday, bag holders (filled with plastic bags as they charge you for these in Wales!) for a mothers day present, a few Easter gifts here and there…now for something harder to tackle…the mother-in-law! 

My sister had made me a peg bag from Cath K materials for one of my presents and I love how it makes my boring chores pretty.  So I thought I would spread the love and make one for my mother-in-law.  They’ve just had a new kitchen put in and she had mentioned she may look for Teal coloured accessories, so I had a look at some material that I thought may fit in with her theme (and if not…at least it would prettyfy her washing line!)

I looked at a few tutorials and set about work around my own template.  My learning point from this project is that I must have more accurate cutting out!  My cutting is slapdash!  It took me longer than the usual crafter I am sure as I did a bit here and there, and I deliberated before each stage and I had to re-trace  steps and un-stitch where my patterns didn’t match up!  I got there in the end though and here was the finished project.

Pretty dusted pink mini spot fabric inside.  Cream binding with pink stitching.

I love it…and so did she!  It was good timing as well as her peg bag was falling to pieces.  Phew…a success!

Although…I did forgot to invoice my husband for materials, labour etc.!

Now lets hope this sunshine continues so that she has a chance to hang out her washing.

Love from me and my little man x

Give us today our weekly bread…

We’ve turned our hands to something a little different this week.

Bread.

I LOVE bread.

Door stop sandwiches.  Hot toast with melted butter and marmite. Bread and butter dunked in soup….mmmmmmm!…it’s just a pity it’s not that great for the waistline!

Surely it couldn’t be that hard to make a loaf? I also wondered how expensive it would be to bake your own bread, with bread costing anything from £0.80-£1.30 in the shops.  So one day last week, we went to the supermarket to get our ingredients ready for our project.

My little man was so keen to take part…he pulled up his own chair and he really enjoyed turning the dial on the mixer.  He kept peeking in the bowl to see what was happening, and clapping almost to say “We’re almost there mum!”. 

Here are some pictures…

Ta Dah!

Here is our first loaf of bread!

Warm from the oven we were obliged to see how it tasted…

YUMMY!!!

Here is the recipe…

500g strong white bread flour mixed with 25g butter to make breadcrumb texture.

Add 1tbsp sugar, 1 and 1/2 tsp salt, and 1tsp dried yeast and mix slowly adding up to 320ml of tepid water until combined to  make a soft dough.

Knead in mixer for about 5min, then cover with oiled cling film and place somewhere warm to prove for 1hr (I use the conservatory on a nice day, or airing cupboard).

Then knock back the mixture and put in an oiled loaf tin, and again cover with oiled cling film.  Place somewhere warm to prove for 30mins.

Then pop the loaf in a pre-heated oven at 200C for 30mins or until sounding hollow when tapped. 

Then…EAT!!!!!

In all I think it cost between 45-50p to make…and it’s not really that time intensive.  So we have now stopped buying bread for the time being…and I am now on my third loaf!

Loaf no 2…

Loaf no 3…

It has been a resounding success.  So now I am confident with the basic loaf…we are going to experiment with rolls, different artisan breads, and CHELSEA BUNS…yummy!  I am on a diet…so I’m going to have to exercise bucket loads of will power!

We are also going to have to invest in my little man getting his own apron now that he is my sous chef!

Have a go at making your own loaf.  If I can do it I’m sure that you can!

Love from me and my little man x

Sailing Away.

Well with all the rain lately we might have to jump in these cute little boats and sail away to the sunshine!

Another cute addition to Will’s Shed using my crochet skills.  I followed the amazing pattern from Bunny Mummy's Blog as I saw it and thought it would be a cute one to do.

The pattern was easy to follow, although I had a little difficulty with the flags, and came unstuck at the fish.  I think my head was swimming in between UK and US terms making things a bit haphazard.

I had to discover the amazing trick of steam blocking to help the wool hold it’s shape.

 

Here are a few pictures, and you can see that I’ve strung some pretty blue beads in between the sun, boats and fish.

It’s now hanging up adding a touch of brightness inside the shed.

We went camping again last weekend, near Poole, which was a truly delightful family trip.  Loads of fun, and everything was just simply happy (apart from deflating air beds…humph!).  Thankfully we had gorgeous weather allowing us to top up our tans, and the rain began to fall the moment we packed the last bit of kit in the car to leave…we were lucky! 

I hope we haven’t seen the last of our summer yet…

Love from me and my little man x